Closing the Box
by Exilo
Summary: Third installment of my AVATAR trilogy. Sequel to "You" and "Apocalypse Shortly". Crimes cannot go unpunished. Any soldier knows that. One soldier must say goodbye to everything. R&R please. One shot part of a trilogy.


_Closing the Box_

Camo had spent the better part of the cool morning digging, and when finally done, sat down on the edge of the grave, catching his breath. He wanted a cigarette, which was odd because he had never smoked much. He could go into the trailer and get some of Doc's. He settled on taking up his shotgun. "If you're here to kill me," he said. "Would you wait until I finish with the grave? I don't want the animal getting to the corpse."

Chahrah, who had been standing a distance behind him with her bow drawn, slowly released the elastic wire, slow enough that the arrow wouldn't shoot and spear the human through the back of the head.

"You _are_ here to kill me, right?" Camo continued.

Chahrah sighed, walking forward. "How did you know I was here?"

"Why are you surprised? Because I'm human?"

"Because I have tapped my brother on the shoulder without even smelling me or hearing me. How did you know I was here?"

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents, Chahrah. You can do something a thousand times, perfectly well. But it only takes one time to screw up to get killed."

She gritted her teeth. She was getting rather annoyed by these answers, and thought of merely silencing him now. Camo finally said. "I just knew you were there. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I just knew." He looked up to the sky.

Chahrah approached softly. That was just how she moved: large blue feet careful not snap any twigs by instinct alone, not as if she had to sneak up on him now. She stopped a few feet away from the little human. He was small, especially sitting while she was standing tall. She was always confused at that. How small humans really were. In her nightmares she had always seen them as some sort of monsters. That first time she had seen Camo outside of his Na'vi body, how odd it had been. He had such small hands, such small legs, such under-developed muscles. And yet… "You killed Tommian."

"Did I?" Camo looked back down to the grave. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I don't exactly regret it, but I was just trying to get him to stop trying to kill me. And, words didn't seem to be getting through his thick skull. He had it coming though."

"He was my brother…" Chahrah growled.

"He ripped apart a little girl, who came to this planet wide eyed and bushy tailed, and now if she doesn't die she won't be walking any time soon. You want to kill me? Spare me the trouble of going back to Earth and explaining to her parents what killed her, how she died."

"Tommian…had problems. But if you knew what he had gone through, what you humans had put him through, you would not be so quick to pass judgment upon him."

Camo glared at her under his mask. He stood, and quickly turned, bringing his shotgun to his eye. Chahrah was faster however. Before his finger even found the trigger, she had taken the shotgun by the barrel and pointed it to the sky. Her other hand took hold of his facemask, and ripped it upwards, a method that had become a standard move in a Na'vi warrior's repertoire. The shock of the attack caused an instinctual inhale in humans, and Camo, despite his training, was still taken by surprise. He took the acidic air in sharp and deep, and after a moment fell to his knees.

Chahrah looked down, watching him. This pathetic little whelp had murdered her brother. Now, he wrapped his arms around her leg, clinging to her, gasping, looking up her tall body with pleading eyes. She lifted her other foot, and slowly dropped it down, resting the arch on the back of his head, and pressing him into the ground. Her foot tingled against his hair. She weighed down softly, putting only an ounce of her weight upon him, but enough that his face was well buried in the ground. Anymore, and she'd likely crack his skull. She should. She had been ordered to kill him, in vengeance of her brother. That was why she was here. She should have executed him when his back was turned, before he noticed her. It would have been quick and painless. It would have been an easy passing.

She lifted her foot off his head and squatted over him. She rolled him onto his back, and placed the mask on his face. Camo put his hands over the mask and took a deep breath, heaving with all his might. He breathed several times, gasping for air, before lying down steady.

"Why did they send you?" he asked. "Why did they send you, of all Na'vi, to kill me?"

"That's not my only option. I can kill you, and bring your head back. Or…I'm…I'm supposed to bring you back, so you may be executed before the entire tribe. I suppose…perhaps, my relationship with you is well known. Now is not a time to be cordial with humans. I am to learn that."

Camo sat up weakly, still breathing hard. Chahrah placed a hand on his back to aid him in sitting up, and when he had caught his breath, she took him by the collar and lifted him to his feet, like she would a child. "I'll come quietly with you, Chahrah," Camo said. "Just let me check on the Sara? She's the little girl that Tommian raped."

Chahrah glared at Camo, who looked passively at her. Turning, he slung his shotgun over his shoulder and began heading into the trailer. Chahrah waited outside. She looked to the grave that had been dug. She squatted down, toes curling around the rim of the grave, tail stretched as a counter balance to her, as she leaned over the edge. She stared down into the hole. She did not like that he had upturned so much of the ground, killed so much grass, for this hole. She did hissed under her breath, and then turned back to Camo as he exited the trailer.

"Do me one favor," Camo said. "Tell them Tommian killed the little girl. It'll probably be true soon enough, she's in a coma. I left Doc a note. When she comes to, she'll take Sara back to the base and see if she can be saved."

"Why didn't you go back to the base?" Chahrah asked. "Behind your gates to hide?"

"I was afraid you and yours would attack the base to get to me. What would that solve, save a lot of dead Na'vi and humans? It's better this way." Camo sat down next to Chahrah, letting his legs hang in the grave. He placed his hands down on the rim of the grave, and gently slide down, landing softly. "Would you please cover my body with earth. Pack it down tight. Hopefully the animals won't dig me up."

"Why does it matter? You'll be dead." There was venom in her voice like Camo had never heard.

"Because I happen to like my body very much. I happen to like my face. You went to that school Doc had made, didn't you? They give you any literature to read?" Camo flexed his fingers. He wanted a cigarette so bad. Maybe he could go into the trailer and take one of Doc's cigarettes. When Chahrah didn't answer, he continued. "God made man. He made man special. This face, that man has, is a contract to god. It's a sign of God's favoritism, God's love. And to change your face, to turn it into that of a beast, that should be the worst atrocity that can be done to a human. But a bunch of idiots hop on a space ship and find this planet, and suddenly, no one is happy with themselves. But they get it into their head that they'll be happy if they're Na'vi. If Sara could have, she would have hopped into an Avatar body and never leave." He looked up to Chahrah, who was still squatting over the grave. "I love myself, I love who I am. And I don't ever want who I am to change. So I'd like to die a human, and be buried a human."

Chahrah stood. She took up her bow, and aimed down, pulling the elastic wire back and aiming the arrow to go through Camo's heart. She would leave his precious face undamaged. She pulled the wire far back, closing one eye, gritting her teeth. This was the man who had killed any number of her brothers. Not just Tommian, so many young warriors who didn't know what they were getting involved in. He had slaughtered them. It was Chahrah's fault. She had let slip that a human had been taken prisoner, and she hadn't stopped Camo when he set out to liberate her. She would kill him, and avenge the fallen.

But again she eased the wire forward and removed the arrow.

"Would you rather escort me back to the tribe?" Camo asked. "I'll come quietly." Chahrah reached down, and again took the little human by the nape. She lifted him up, and set him down beside her. They started to walk.

To say it was awkward would be the understatement of the universe. It was even worse than the first time they had met. The first time they had met, they were both curious about the other. Oh, the simple times. When either side believed the other could be converted to their way of thinking: when the humans believed the Na'vi could be made to give up their land and the Na'vi believed the humans could be taught the bounty of nature. Camo was part of the first group to be given Avatar bodies. Needless to say, he was curious about Charah. And Charah was curious about the Dreamwalkers. There had been silence when they first met, but that had faded soon enough,

Actually, this silenced faded as well. It was Charah who broke the ice. "Do you approve of your people's actions?" She spoke slowly, and almost nervous.

"Do you approve the actions of yours?"

"Why must you answer my questions with more questions?" Chahrah asked. Her tail whipped through the air.

"What would you like me to say?" Camo asked, glaring at her through his mask. "I'm a soldier, Chahrah. I kill people, for my people. You can talk all you want about how your killing of people is nobler than my killing people, but…but what does it really matter? I know Tommian lost a lot to us humans, but that doesn't give him the right to do what he did."

"But you had the right to kill him?"

"He would have killed me."

"You'll die now, anyway. You…you killed so many. You killed so many of my brothers, and for what? You said your girl will die, you will die. All you humans can create is destruction. I should have known that. I should never have forgotten."

Camo stopped walking, and looked to her. She was angry. He had learned Na'vi body language without much difficulty. She was far beyond angry. In fact, he was shocked she hadn't attacked him barehanded yet. He resumed walking. "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Do you know what that means, Chahrah? It's…it's something human. Do you ever think about that though? Do you ever think about illusions in a cave? Do you ever wonder if the trees really know what's going on, or are they just as lost as you? Do you ever question anything? Or do you blindly follow what someone else tells you. Blind faith will get you killed, luv."

Chahrah was growing angrier and angrier by the moment.

Camo sighed. "Not that humans are much better. We see the profit on this planet, and we don't think about what we might learn from it, from you. We only see the profit. It's like the world has blinders on." Camo sighed, starting to groan and rub his chest as if in pain. Chahrah noted that steps were growing uneven, and quickened her pace, slowly reaching a hand out. "I didn't want to kill the Na'vi. Even after I found Sara, I didn't…I didn't hate Tommian. Back on Earth, I was a soldier. I was supposed to know what was right, what was wrong. But when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. I've seen this war from both sides, and though my heart was always human, sometimes my eyes were Na'vi. And Tommian didn't trust me, but sometimes we talked. He wasn't a monster. Even after Sara. He hated humanity for what we did to his trees and his family. I can understand that hate. But this world is better off without him."

Then Camo collapsed. His legs simply gave way and he fell forward, and would have crashed into the ground had Chahrah not stretched her arms forward and caught him, and lifted him up into her arms. Cahrah started at him, supporting his head and looking into his real eyes. After a moment, she placed him back down.

Camo caught his breath. He looked to Chahrah. No rage. No anger. Just…just a void of emotion.

"Sorry. I…I'm not sure where that came from. There's adrenaline when you fight. You never are really afraid of dying when the bullets are whizzing around your head." He took a breath. "No bullets now. And I'm going to die. God, I'm going to die on an alien planet. A bunch of blue cat-monkeys are going to execute me and do God knows what with my corpse."

"I will see to it that you are buried," Chahrah said almost kindly. "I am sorry about this," she finally said. "I cannot forgive the death of my people at your hands, and the hands of humanity. But…we have a saying, that, to grasp vengeance is to be bitten by it in turn."

"Those phrases are a dime a dozen on Earth, not that anyone pays attention to them."

"You have done much for the Na'vi. Perhaps, I could persuade some to spare you this fate."

"No Charah. Let it end with me. I accept it. I killed a lot of people, and I deserve this."

"Will it end? Is there any hope of an end? Not yours exiled from this planet, or my kind exterminated. Is there any hope of…peace?"

Camo looked up to her, smiling softly. "Would you like the truth?"

"No," she said smoothly.

Camo smiled up to her, meeting her beautiful golden eyes. "Yes, it will most certainly end. My sacrifice will bring about peace. I won't die in vain, in fact, I will be remembered as a hero. The Na'vi will be touched by the bravery I show as I look at the executioner's axe, and the humans will realize that the cost of the minerals is not worth all the lives that will be lost." He smiled. "Further, Avatar bodies will become commonplace, until everyone on Earth can come here and live as a Na'vi. We won't need those little pods. You'll just transfer your consciousness into the new body. And if you don't like that, the magic tree will adjust your human lungs so you can breathe atmosphere. Anyone who wants to break up the peace will have an extremely large and obvious scar across his face, speak in a ridiculous accent and talk in action movie clichés, and go on and on about his plans giving the heroes ample time to stop him. Oh, and all the heroes get to wear pretty white hats."

Chahrah couldn't suppress a giggle, even if some of his references were a bit over her head. But there was strange passion in Camo's voice, as if he enjoyed speaking of this matter. He spoke with such conviction, such a smooth smile, she almost thought he might be telling the truth.

"Chahrah…would you lower to one knee?"

Chahrah didn't bother answering. She just lowered, using her tail to balance. Camo held his breath and slipped his mask off his face. He walked over to her, putting his arms around her, holding her, and slowly putting his lips to her much larger ones. The kiss lasted a long time. Chahrah's arms came up, curling around her human, holding him close. Camo inhaled through his nose, and took the poisonous atmosphere in, along with the sweet scent of his mate. "I love you," Camo said softly, pulling back.

"I love you too."

Camo slipped his mask back on and started walking again. Chahrah's tail silently swished back and forth as she watched the dream walker, her dream walker, approach his certain death.


End file.
